Carina nebula!

[platt.michae18]

The Carina Nebula NGC 3372.

Image info:
10 x 4min frame at ISO 400, Darks applied.

The image turned out a lot better then I was thinking, the darks were taken on a different night but at around the same temp. I have gotten a second battery now from xmas :)

thanks!
Michael

[Mickoid]

That's dam good tracking for 4 mins. Was autoguiding used and what camera/mount/telescope combination were you using?

[vlazg]

Hi Michael, very good, what programme did you use to process the image

[platt.michae18]

Thanks guys!!
Im using a ED100 f/9 for imaging with a cgem mount and an ed66 WO scope for guidscope and a zwo for guiding. and just a Nikon D3200 for the imaging camera

I used DeepSkyStacker to stack the images then photoshop for final adjustments.

[jenchris]

Download Hasta la vista green free add on for photoshop.
It'll improve the colour rendition.

[Mickoid]

I was wondering what focal ratio you were working with. Despite your great long subs and low ISO, you aren't getting enough signal and your shot is suffering from a lot of noise. Consequently you're having to lift up the levels to get some structure in the nebulosity. I'd try 800 or 1600 ISO and you'll be amazed at the detail you will get without having to move the levels around in your histogram too much.

Just as a reference, I shoot at 1600 ISO 30 seconds unguided at f5. If I translate that to your f 9, I would have to increase the exposure to about 2 minutes. At 400 iso, I would have to give it about 8mins. So with your iso and focal ratio, 4 minutes is not enough. You have a great rig so upping your ISO will be an easy fix because everything else is working beautifully.

[platt.michae18]

Great comment! thanks Michael.
The reason I was shooting at ISO400 was because its just above a far bit of light pollution so I didn't want to get too much of that in the photos. But with it rising at the moment I don't see why I cant bump it up a bit. I might change the exposure to 5mins and the ISO to 800 or 1600, all depends on the night and how it all goes. I only had 6 dark frames for that picture and they were taken on different nights in different places so thats probably why theres still lots of noise. ill try take the same amount of lights to darks and maybe add some bias frames in there as well to help out. ( not really sure what they help with but why not. )

I will try 'Hasta la vista green' next time or with this image. Thanks!!!

Thanks for the great comment and the help guys! ill post a new thread or just on this one when i've gotten some new photos when this storm clears and the good weather kicks in!

Thanks all!!!!
Michael

[ZeroID]

Hope you don't mind. Just got into it quickly with RGB levels and curves to reduce the green somewhat. So the information is there, it just needs some massaging. Could have toned the red down a bit more but it shows the extent of the nebula.

[platt.michae18]

Zero.
it looks better. less green and red, and I can see the huge dust clouds going from the middle to the top/bottom!

I am just getting into this, so this helps.
The sky is clear tonight so ill be setting up with new ISO and exposure and better darks :P

Thanks all for the amazing help!
Michael

[raymo]

If you make the RGB cones in DSS coincide, these are the colours you can expect.
raymo

[platt.michae18]

I try and do my best to make all the color channels in the same spot.

Thanks!

[dimithri86]

Hey Michael,

Good effort, but I suspect that something is wrong. For comparison, I have attached a picture of mine 10x8sec at iso 1600 nikon d7100 (ill have to double check my field notes, but I havent installed guiding yet, so i know its sub 10 second).

If I had used iso400, it would got similar exposure with 10x32second.

Kind Regards,
Dimithri.

[platt.michae18]

What telescope are yo using and whats its f stop?!?

[dimithri86]

Apologies, I thought it was F9 too but its 127mm apo f7.5, so a bit faster than yours. And I am also shooting from an area of pretty high light pollution.

However with 4 minutes even at f9 i would expect better. Try iso 1600 and see what you get.

Since I am just a noob, another thing I do is I repeat the same sequence with different ISO so I think 1600 is the one I need, then I also do 10@800iso and 10@3200iso, and try stacking them, or even stacking all the different exposures together.

Hope it helps.

[platt.michae18]

The attached photo was taken last night.
9*5mins for light and 7 darks added.
Would've had more lights but clouds came in around 12:30

[Nikolas]

seems like your white balance is out or colour balance post process.